A group of motherboard enthusiasts working for GIGABYTE, sharing their insider knowledge and general ramblings of the motherboard business, the tech industry, latest technologies and trends, and other random odds and ends.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Just a few hours ago we officially launched our new GIGABYTE H77TN and GIGABYTE B75TN motherboards - catch the press release here. Obviously the cool thing about these boards, is that they are thin and conform to the latest Thin Mini-ITX guidelines that have been specifically developed for the construction of All-in-One PCs.

The All-in-One PC segment is one that has shown a great deal of potential in recent years, and promises steady growth moving forward. But until now, there was no standard which manufacturers could use to help make their development easier. The finer details of any All-in-One PC design in regard to the placement of the CPU in relation to cooling and ventilation modules, drive bays and of course the screen itself, is paramount. Thin Mini-ITX makes a rational case for implementing standards and guidelines that can be followed by both chassis and motherboard vendors. This is creating an All-in-One eco-system where even DIY builders can put together their own All-in-One PCs.

Supporting both Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge Intel processors, the GIGABYTE H77TN and GIGABYTE B75TN are 43% thinner than standard Mini-ITX boards, implementing a maximum IO shield height of only 2.5cm. You won’t find any full size DDR3 slots either; to keep things as thin as possible, two SODIMM slots are placed horizontally on the board. In terms of storage there are the usual SATA slots, but also an mSATA slot for installing a compact and discrete mSATA SSD. We’ve also included a Mini PCIe slot which provides support for a range of WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity modules.